Personal Best Fishing Stories

[WillKirkgard]

Bored on this cold day in Texas and the down season of fishing, I have searched long and hard for the topic of personal bests on the forums but I could only find singular stories of people hitting their personal best and nothing much after that, so I wanted a place for people to put their personal best stories on a forum to share with others.

Personally, I love hearing of peoples greatest fishing stories because you know that every detail is still burned in their memory from the excitement of when they pulled that beast of a fish out of the water and held it in their hands for the first time. 

 

So my question to you is, what is your personal best fishing story?

Pictures are awesome if you have them.

[Senko lover]

I caught mine this last summer, on a private lake in MN. I was at that time transitioning to lures, but I still used nightcrawlers too. I was fishing for a sunfish, the family we were staying with wanted to do a fish fry, and I had two other people on the boat. I did have a rod with a spinnerbait, though, that I would use to fish for bass occasionally. Well, anyway, I had just had a fish take my bobber down, I set the hook, started reeling him in, and then out of nowhere this huge fish splashes out of the water about 20 feet away. So I hand my rod to my friend, who brings in the small bass I had on, and fired my spinnerbait into the wake of the splash. A few cranks of the reel handle and then my lure got stopped cold. I fought him in and, like so many people do, I didn't have a scale with me. My friend said it was the biggest bass he'd every seen, and we both agreed it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4 pounds. He told me to keep her for the fish fry, but there was no way I was eating my pb, so I let her go. Caught another nice 2 pounder later that night. Fun time.

[Dylcook91]

Oct. 14th 2013 at 12:22pm...that was the day I like to remember hahaha

The day prior(13th) I was fishing the same pond for the first time due to a family bbq. The pond is located within a state park only a few minutes from my house, and up until then I would brush it off as the I thought there would be nothing worth while in it as its highly pressured and very small. I walked up, first cast resulted in a dink. I then see two submerged stumps, so using my favorite 3/8 spinnerbait cast over to them. This results in a nice bass around 4lbs, the pond is circled by a walking/biking path, now I hear all these people around the pond who stopped to watch when they saw the fish jumping clapping and saying "what a big fish". I take a pic and put it back in the water, make another cast to the same spot and bang another fish this one a little bigger around 4.5lbs. Now all the people/family's standing there are going crazy cheering me on as the fish jumps and thrashes. I couldn't believe it, it was a spur of the moment thing so I didn't have any of my gear or scale just the one rod and spinnerbait which snapped off a few cast later ending my day.

Still in shock I go back the next day, this time with all my gear including a hd video camera on a tripod filming as I fished in hopes I would land one of those bass again to weigh it. The day was the same as before, not a cloud in the sky and perfect temps. However the bite was dead, but I kept fishing with the same type of spinnerbait slowly making my way around the pond dragging the tripod along. A few hours later I made it to the last spot. Make a cast and begin to reel. I never felt a thing as Im watching my line start swimming sideways, I reel down and set the hook. Instantly I could tell there was something good on the other end. I play the fish in what seemed to take a lifetime, any line I would gain would quickly be stripped back out. Then I see her head break the surface as I drop down to lip her and knew it was the biggest fish I ever landed. The scale had her at 5.75lbs on the dot, I took one crappy picture of her with my cellphone and released her since I figured it was all on film not knowing the video camera had died while I was fishing.

Later I review the video and the funny thing is the camera dies and stops filming just as I set the hook. I caught no other fish that day so the video I do have is very boring hahaha. Even just writing about this now its getting my adrenaline pumping and makes me wanna grab a rod and hit up some ponds.

[corn-on-the-rob]

Smallie in my profile picture went 5.7lbs. Pretty uneventful, fishing on lake erie  around south bass island. Fishing not far off shore in 20ft of water. 3'' watermelon seed grub. It was the size of fish that was small enough to still be able to completely launch itself out of the water when it jumped, but big enough to make you wonder how the hell it could. It was spring and this was one of the fattest fish I have ever caught, I wish I had taken another angle, straight up football shaped.

 

Edit: I also hold fish pretty much against my body when I take pictures, no tricking the camera for me.

[Slade House]

• My best fishing story for me personally.  One California monday Afternoon, on a  California Monday January 3rd, 2014  I was fishing on Lake Casitas at this sunken tree / old brick house foundation.  
• I had been obsessively fishing there for almost a week straight because I had a 6lb+ break off jumping out of the water.        
• So i cast across the structure and just let my Texas rigged missle bait sit for about 2 minutes motionless.  When Bam , i had the biggest bass I knew i had ever caught , and I only had like 6lb flurocarbon on my reel.
•  so i fight it for 5 minutes and land the thing , and immediatley fill up the livewell and motor back to the dock so i can have someone weigh it and take a photo.  
• Ends up being 7.6lbs , my PB , and i was estatic
• (espeically since i'd only been fishing there for 4 months and spent the first month with zero fish. Thats the one thing about Florida hybrid bass is that they are not easy to catch at all, and I was puzzled that nothing chartreuse worked at all out here) 

So 2 days later on Wenesday January 5th, I go back to the same spot again, this time i'm set up on the opposite side this time in the morning.  same missle bait, this time on a jig.  cast across the structure and let that thing sit for about a minute, and wham!! this monster was fighting so hard i was screaming "holy **** , what the **** is this thing, somebody help me!!!"  i was seriously calling out for help cause this thing was massive and nasty.  I finally land the thing and i just start laughing and laughing , cause i can't believe that i had just caught another PB in the same week.  Took it back to the dock, had it weighed, ended up being 8.5 lbs and that's the fish you see in the pic.  I got in 2 papers that week for my catches , pretty cool. 

[scaleface]

I dont know which bass is my personal best. Ive caught quite a few in that 7 possibly 8 lb mark but not one that I can say is my biggest ever. So I will tell about my biggest this year. 

 

July , raining , fallen tree , Lunker Lure . Not much more to tell. Handheld spring scales had it at 7 and 3/4 .

[Jlo23]

A buddy of mine caught his biggest helping a friend get a knot out of his bait caster.. He threw his crank bait over board and began taking line out and after 3 minutes or so the rod almost flew in!! He thought he snagged bottom until the "bottom" started moving away! Ended up being a 71/2lb largemouth

[Bankbeater]

Aug 8, 2009 at 6:05 AM. Was throwing a black jitterbug and getting no hits. I was starting to reel as soon as it hit the water, so I thought I would change it up a little. I threw out over a gravel road bed and just let the bait sit until the water down where the bait splashed in. When I cranked the reel handle the jitterbug turned toward me, and that is when she hit the bait. Wasn't a big splash, just a huge boil in the water. The bass went 6-2 and that was the only one I got that day.

[Djman72]

My favorite fish story is below. I've caught bigger fish since but this was my favorite fishing moment.

 

I was 9 years old on vacation with my family up on a popular lake in Michigan. We had rented a lakeside cabin and this cabin had a old abandoned dock that looked like it was about to collapse. I was fascinated by this dock and whenever we were not on the water I wanted to play in the dock/fish in it.

 

My mother caught wind and told me i'd be grounded until winter if I went in there. My dad said the same thing.

 

One day my mother took my two sisters to the beach of lake Michigan to play (About 20 minutes away) and I stayed back with my dad since we were going out on the boat later that day. He took a nap and I was left to my own devices.

 

I took my Zebco 33 and grabbed some leaches out of the fridge and went to the old dock. I was fishing about 20 feet up from the dock since I couldn't climb down and get back up. I saw what looked like a giant brick/cinderblock in one of the abandoned boat slips that was under the roof of the dock. I cast right in the middle of the slip and waited. This "brick" started moving straight towards my leach.

 

My bobber went under and I set the hook and this monster took off. She could have went in any direction but one and snapped my line easily, but as fate would have it she went right out into open water. I had a net with me for some reason and I decided to jump down to get inside the dock to land this monster fish. I fought this fish for 15-20 minutes and I finally landed the fish.

 

At this point in time, the owner of the bait shop/convenience store who owned this old dock had heard all the racket and came to investigate. He yelled at me for being in a dangerous place by myself, and being the kid that I was I just held up my net and showed him a 5-6 pound largemouth bass and he immediately lit up and laughed and congratulated me. He walked over and helped me out of the ditch with my prize. Told me that my dad and I could get fresh bait for free every morning we went out.

 

I walked over to my cabin and banged on the door. Showed my dad my prize and he took me out for ice cream. I left out the part that I went into the old dock to fish.

 

Fun times at that lake.

[fisherrw]

One time I was drifting in my yak bouncing dropshots of the bottom I got nailed!!! Then as I'm fighting the first fish the second rod goes WHAM!!! And I'm like OMG I got trouble so I bet the first fish and the second one is still on so I fight him up and get them both in the net!! That was epic!! A 3 pound smallie and a 4 pound smallie!!!!! What a day!

[kstring]

Was at my family lake helpin my dad do some work on our cabin in mid June 2011. We took a short break so I grabbed my pole and went down the levee. Dad asked me what I thought I was doin..."gonna go catch a big'n real quick" I yelled back.

3 casts later I felt a faint bump on the ol'monster red shad worm. When I set the hook there was no doubt about what just occurred. I'd hooked into one of my biggest fish ever. I went to hollerin as I fought her to the bank. My dad came down off the porch to snap a pic and we let her loose.

At least that's my favorite big fish story. Have caught several bigger but none as exciting.

[Rhino68W]

I went to a local pond that is very secluded and not very pressured last fall. It was raining, and I was considering packing up and closing shop. I decided to tough it out and throw a spinner bait around for a while just to see what happened. I did, and I caught two 5 lbs PBs within 5 minutes of each other on the same spinner bait in the same exact spot. I was literally freaking out. Immediately after releasing the 2nd fish I left, Thinking that the 3rd one might not exactly be the charm with the lightening picking up lol.

[A-Jay]

I have been very fortunate to have some seriously fantastic days on the water.  Many included some great fish catches, others centered around great times with friends & family and the best of the best included both.

 

One of the latest installments happened in November 2013, while fishing south of the border with a couple of very good friends, I had 3 days of bass fishing that until that week I could only dream of.   The back of most ever cove we fished was completely loaded up with bait.  The big bass were there too and they were on the feed.  Lipless rattle baits worked under the shad were getting destroyed. I caught more 7 pound plus bass during these 3 days, than I had my entire life combined. 

 

  The capper came on the next to last afternoon, right at sunset.  Working a "nothing looking" steep bank with a little brush, I got a huge strike.  The kind that makes your heart race, your palms sweat and you get a little weak in the knees.   The fish fought hard and after what always seems like a circus act, the huge bass was in the net.  As the net came over the side and was placed on the deck, the bait just fell out of it's face.   I got goose bumps just typing that.  The big girl went 11-11.  Beat my PB by a full pound.    

 

With my heart still pounding out of my chest and after the picture session that followed, she was released.  And just to give you an idea what I mean when I say I had a couple of very special days, I hooked, fought & landed a 9 1/2 pound bass On The Very Next Cast ~ !

 

Good Times.

 

A-Jay

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

I have been very fortunate to have some seriously fantastic days on the water. Many included some great fish catches, others centered around great times with friends & family and the best of the best included both.

One of the latest installments happened in November 2013, while fishing south of the border with a couple of very good friends, I had 3 days of bass fishing that until that week I could only dream of. The back of most ever cove we fished was completely loaded up with bait. The big bass were there too and they were on the feed. Lipless rattle baits worked under the shad were getting destroyed. I caught more 7 pound plus bass during these 3 days, than I had my entire life combined.

The capper came on the next to last afternoon, right at sunset. Working a "nothing looking" steep bank with a little brush, I got a huge strike. The kind that makes your heart race, your palms sweat and you get a little weak in the knees. The fish fought hard and after what always seems like a circus act, the huge bass was in the net. As the net came over the side and was placed on the deck, the bait just fell out of it's face. I got goose bumps just typing that. The big girl went 11-11. Beat my PB by a full pound.

With my heart still pounding out of my chest and after the picture session that followed, she was released. And just to give you an idea what I mean when I say I had a couple of very special days, I hooked, fought & landed a 9 1/2 pound bass On The Very Next Cast ~ !

Good Times.

A-Jay

I just knew that story was coming. You forgot to mention you caught your PB 11-11 on November 11th, Veterans Day.

[A-Jay]

I just knew that story was coming. You forgot to mention you caught your PB 11-11 on November 11th, Veterans Day.

 

 

A-Jay

[fisherrw]

i guess i kind of forgot the point of this page.... my personal best is in my profile pic it went 7 pound caught it on a strike king 5xd. earlier in the week i caught a 6 pound smallie on the same lure!! my new goto!

[everythingthatswims]

My PB largemouth isn't that exciting because she live in my neighbors pond and I have caught her 3 times. But here is the pb smallmouth story....

 

I was kayak fishing a small river with my friend, and for my first time I was on a pretty decent swimbait bite, throwing an s-waver 168. I had landed a few 1-3lb largemouth on it so far, and then we came to a very deep, rocky pool. I threw a cast waaaay across it, and within seconds I had hooked into a nice bass. It jumps and I see it's a big smallie, but then I notice an absolute tank following it, trying to rip the swimbait out of his mouth! I landed the first fish, it ended up measuring 19" and weighed close to 3lbs if I remember correctly, this was my PB smallie...But the fish that had been with it was much bigger, so we paddled through the pool, and sat down to have lunch so the fish would calm back down. 

  After eating lunch, I grabbed the swimbait rod and crept up on the pool, looking for the fish. I couldn't spot her so I sneaked in close and stood on a rock, waiting. Pretty soon she comes cruising down the pool, so I toss my bait way out in front of her and intercept her path. She starts to follow it and I give it two hard rips, she slams it and the battle was on! I charged out into the pool in chest deep water to get her out of the rocks, my friend also comes charging out with the net. After an intense battle nearly peeing my pants the entire time, my friend scoops her into the net and we went ballistic. Taped out at 23", significantly bigger than any smallmouth I had ever seen before in my life. Only weighed 4.2lbs but those river smallies are lean, mean, fighting machines. Released her and she is still out there waiting to make someone else's day!

[MikeinFresno]

not so much a story, but both of my largest, 6.2 and 7.0, when I hooked them I thot I was snagged at first till they started to pull back.

[striper2]

A few years ago I was fishing a canal near my house in Davie, Florida with a bass rod and shiners.  Caught as peacock bass and the next cast had a huge hit that screamed my drag out!  Luckily I could walk the canal I was fishing for 1/2 mile. In about an hour,  the fish got caught on a piece of rebar about 10 feet out.  He was tired and i was tired.  I jumped into the water and grabbed him  (or her) by the gills and got back to shore with a 41", 31 lb. snook!  It was the first snook that I caught in that canal system in twenty years.  How it did not cut off the 12 lb test line was a miracle, and when it got stuck and was too tired to real free was another miracle.  It was just meant to be!

 

Picture is too big to post, so email me and i will be glad to send you the picture!

[rugger]

A couple of guys that do some work for me came by the house yesterday and asked to fish my pond.  It is a pretty good size pond and covers a few acres.  The property is new to me, and I'm not familiar at all with the pond stock.  I let them fish and walked out with them to watch.  They could run a rod pretty well, and they all seemed to be using similar spinner baits but each had a different color.  The only guy to catch fish was running a red spinner bait, and he caught three bass in 30 minutes!  I thought that was a pretty big deal.  Two were less than 2 lbs, and he released them.  He caught a 5 lb bass, and I let him take it home to feed his family.  I had never seen a bass that size in person.  It was huge. 

 

Well, I got it in my mind that I could be a bass fisherman, too.  So, I went down to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought a baitcast reel and rod combo.  I picked out the closest thing to the lure that the guy was running and went back to the house to fish.  I learned pretty well how to pull line on a baitcast reel.    I can't begin to count the number of birds nests that I had.  As time went by my cast got better, and I got the reel tuned for the lure.  I probably spent an hour or more walking the dam and casting.  Finally, I had some luck and a little 1-2 lb bass took the bait.  He shook the hook before I could get him to shore.  That would have been my first bass.  I casted a few more times and gave up for the day.

 

I threw some casts this morning for about 15 minutes, and then I needed to get to work.  I only had one cast nest up, so that was a serious improvement.

 

At about 4 pm this afternoon I went back out to practice and fish.  I spent about 15 minutes walking the pond and casting, and I ended up in the same place where I lost the little bass.  I cast 8 or 10 times in different directions.  There isn't much structure to this pond at all.  I was about to give up when I felt a different sensation on the bait.  I gave a little slack thinking that maybe a fish was "mouthing" the bait.  Then I felt the tension on the pole, and I knew that I had something on.  It felt heavy!  I reeled in some slack.  I've never caught anything on this pole, so my drag was set all wrong.  I was turning the reel, but no line was coming in.  I had to set the drag on the fly.  I'm reeling him in slowly and my heart is racing.  I can't believe that I may land this one!  It takes me a few minutes, but I finally get him to shore.  I couldn't believe the size of this fish.  It was HUGE.  I grab the line and chase it down to the edge of the dam where I can get a hand on the fish.  I grab it and pull it out of the water.  Lord have mercy, I have never seen such a beautiful sight!

 

My first bass was caught around 4pm today.  I weighed it and it came in at exactly 8 lb 8 oz.  It was a true gift to have caught this fish as my first bass.  I returned the gift and released him back into the pond for a second chance.  This was the best fishing day of my life.